Tag: calls

Coxing Drills How To Q&A

Question of the Day

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Transitioning by fours in an 8+ always confuses me. I know you start with stern four, then stern pair out, then three four in, but what’s after that? Who goes in and out in what order? Thanks!

It’s actually pretty simple because there’s only two pair switches you need to make to get between stern, middle, and bow four. Once you’re done with bow 4 it’s only a matter of whether you’re continuing rotating through the fours again or going to 6s or all eight (in which case, the addition of the rest of the pairs is self-explanatory).

How to prepare your crew to row

Coxing How To Novice Rowing

How to prepare your crew to row

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One of the best ways to keep practice moving and avoid wasting time is to give clear instructions before you start rowing. Telling the rowers exactly what you want avoids  having to listen to them say “well, I didn’t know where we were starting from” or “oh sorry, didn’t know it was just stern 4 rowing”.

Before you start a drill or a piece, here’s what you should be saying to your crew.

Who is rowing – all eight, stern four, bow four, outside pair, etc.

Where to start from – the catch, finish, 1/2 slide, etc.

What sort of rowing – a) slide position, either arms only, bodies over, quarter slide, etc, b) feather or square blades, and c) continuous paddling or paused (don’t bother saying unless it’s paused)

How hard to row – light, quarter pressure, half pressure, three-quarters, firm, full, etc. Make sure that when you ask for a pressure, the crew respond appropriately. Don’t be afraid to tell them to bring it up if it seems inadequate to you.

When to start – “Ready all, row.” Remember, you’re not really asking them if they’re ready…you’re more so telling them. If someone isn’t ready, more often times than not you’ll know before you make this call.

“Ready all, row” is a significant call that means many things. When I first started the blog this was what I said about this particular call:

“The title of the blog comes from the command that coxswains make before the rowers begin rowing. It signifies that everyone knows what’s going on and they’re ready to row. For coxswains, it signifies an understanding of the instructions given by the coach.”

When you’re transitioning between exercises, pairs, etc. it’s always “in two”. Make sure you say “one … two” with the stroke’s catch, since that is what everyone is following. One of my biggest pet peeves is when coxswains say “one, two” like they’re counting seconds … the rowers probably aren’t even at the catch yet when they say “two”, which causes them to rush up the slide to match what you’re saying and it just turns into a clusterfuck because people don’t know what’s going on. Yes, the transition is on your call but your call has to match up with when the stroke is rowing. With more experienced crews you can say “on this one” denoting the transition on the NEXT stroke instead of in two. This is what I frequently use with my eight. If you have strokes 1, 2, and 3 and you want to make a transition on stroke 4, you would call “on this one” at the finish of stroke 3.

The specific calls themselves tend to differ between countries (in the UK, “easy there” vs. “weigh enough”, “from backstops” vs. “at the finish”), but the instructions themselves are relatively similar. The end goal, however, is the same – everyone doing exactly what you want. (That sentence is probably the main reason why coxswains get egos too big for our tiny bodies.) Giving clear and concise instructions when you’re on the water maximizes the time you’re able to spend rowing and minimizes the amount of wasted time, so be sure that you are giving them the information they need to be ready to row.

Image via // @harry_brightmore
Coxswain Recordings, pt. 4

College Coxing High School Racing Recordings

Coxswain Recordings, pt. 4

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University of Delaware Coxswain Practice POV

The part I specifically want to point out in this recording is from 1:44-2:05. She’s concise, to the point, intense, and consistent with her calls – she doesn’t stop talking but she’s not rushing to get her words out either. Her calls in between each stroke are spot on and you know what she means even though she’s not saying a lot of words.

Also, after the starts when they’re doing the rate shifts, she does a good job demonstrating what I mean about drawing your voice out at 2:11 and 2:27.

Victoria City Rowing Club U17 Canadian Henley 2012

This is a recording where I question if the coxswain made them row better of if they would have rowed the same without her. This is a classic example of “cheerleader coxswain” who doesn’t sound sure at all of what she’s saying. It’s not bad coxing by any means … there’s just a lot of unnecessary cheerleading going on that could have been replaced by more effective calls.

The one thing that I liked that she said that I think we all tend to forget is “it will hurt to back down and it will hurt to keep pushing, so we’re going to keep pushing”. That’s a great call to make at the end of the race when you need to get that extra push from the crew.

You can find and listen to more recordings by checking out the “Coxswain Recordings” page.

College Coxing How To Q&A Technique

Question of the Day

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I have been told by my rowers that I need to call them out directly more, rather than general corrections to the boat as a whole. I cox collegiate men but I’m not afraid to push them around. My problem is that I am having trouble actually seeing what the problem is. I can tell that catches are off, someone is rushing, but I can’t always tell exactly who it is. Any suggestions for improving this skill?

That’s good that your rowers want you to call them out more individually – don’t take it as a bad thing! There’s a couple things you can do to help yourself get more acquainted with the tendencies of the individual rowers.

When you’re inside on the ergs, watch the rowers for a few minutes each. Have a notebook handy and write down what you see about their stroke – get REALLY analytical about it. Look at the catch, drive, finish, hands, bodies, slides, where their chin is, etc. This will give you an idea of each rower’s “style” and from there you can make the appropriate calls, both as positive reinforcement and constructive criticism.

When you’re out on the water, ask your coach if  you can spend a day just focusing on the rowing. Maybe do a long steady state piece or something where you don’t have to talk very much and can focus on the bladework. For us as coxswains, it’s very hard to see the individual rowers since we’ve got a 6’5″ mammoth sitting directly in front of us blocking our view of the rest of the rowers. Go through the boat pair by pair, then by fours, then all eight and see what you notice about the blades with each group. Breaking it down and looking at the boat in small chunks is sometimes easier than trying to process the whole eight at once. Another thing you can do to focus your brain on the blades is too stare directly at your stroke’s sternum. It sounds weird but looking directly ahead like that allows your peripheral vision to take over, which can help you see which seat is early or late. Have a recorder with you when you do this that way you can just say what you see instead of jostling around with your pen and paper.

Ask your coach if he can record the crew when you’re on the water, preferably one day when you’re doing drills and one day when you’re doing steady state. Get side views of the entire eight (both on starboard and port) as well as 30-45 second long zoomed-in shots of the individuals, preferably shot from the side they row. A flip cam works great, but if you’re brave you can use an iPhone too. The quality on both is pretty good. If your coach has the time, ask him/her if they’d mind watching it with you and pointing out what they notice with each rower, things that they would like to see improved or have noticed about their rowing in general. See if you can spot anyone rushing, diving at the catch, being early or late to the catch, etc. Make note of what you see.

Talk to your rowers. If they’re asking you to call them out individually, they probably already have something in mind that they want you to say to them. Six-seat might know that he rushes the slide but not be aware of when he does it. Three-seat knows that his catches need to be sharper but tends to forget to just unweight the handle during harder pieces. Communicating with them and then repeating to them in the boat what they’ve told you is a GREAT way to earn respect and trust from your crew.

When you talk to the “whole boat” and tell them to fix something, internally with each rower it usually becomes “well, I know I’m not doing this so I assume that the person who IS doing it will get their shit together and fix it” … generally the rower that thinks this is the rower who you’re actually directing your call towards but they don’t know it because you didn’t say their name or seat. As you become more familiar with their individual tendencies, that’ll happen less.

When you do talk to the whole boat though, make sure you give them specifics of what you want them to do – for example, setting the boat. We tend to get lazy and say “set the boat”, assuming that everyone can feel what side the boat is dipping to and what change needs to be made. More often times than not, that isn’t the case. Instead say “let’s set the boat, starboards let’s raise the hands a 1/4 inch at the finish, ports let’s bring ’em down just a little”. The specifics make the rowers on each side think about their hands and where they are in relation to what you just told them to do, so EVERYONE can make an adjustment. Talking to the boat without giving specifics makes the rowers complacent – giving them a specific instruction, even when you’re talking to the whole crew, reels their minds back into the boat.

Related: In the boat, when you’re calling a rower out to make a change, is it better to call them by their seat or name? A rower told me that by using a name it puts them on the spot – but isn’t that the point to make a change?

Calling them out individually doesn’t strictly mean one-by-one either. You can talk to them by pairs (or sometimes fours) too if you notice that something that both rowers are doing.

Coxing

Question of the Day

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So today at practice, my coach said something along the lines of ‘wane-off.’ I have always said way(weigh?) enough (sometimes slurred together to make waynuff) so I asked him about it. He told me that that’s not how you pronounce it. He told me it wasn’t ‘enough,’ it was ‘off,’ but I’m pretty sure I’m right … what do you say?

You are correct in that it is “way enough”. According to Wikipedia, it is sometimes pronounced “wane off” in the United States but I’ve never heard it before and am pretty sure that no coxswain or former-coxswain-turned-coach would advocate for it’s use over the more widely known and accepted “way enough”.

I read this great article a few years ago that explained the history, origin, etc. of “weigh enough”, which is the more archaic version of the modern “way enough”.  I spent about twenty minutes looking for it but couldn’t find it. I did however come across this article from an old Doctor Rowing column in rowing news that talks a bit about the history of the term and the weigh vs. way debate. It’s on page 46 if it doesn’t go directly to it.

Bottom line – way/weigh enough is the term to use.

Coxing Novice Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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Hi! I’m a novice rower and asking for advice concerning my coxswain. She doesn’t get really fired up during races and falls back on just correcting our technique when we really need motivation. Anything you know that helps? We’re a girls team btw.

Have you talked to her about this? Does she know that it bothers you guys when she only focus on technique and doesn’t give any motivation? If you haven’t it’s possible that she doesn’t know there’s a problem.

Whenever you go out and do a piece, ask her if she can throw in some more motivational calls and then give her some specifics – tell her exactly what you (and the rest of the boat) want to hear. Explain that technical calls are really helpful at the beginning but as the race goes on, you need more motivation because as you get more tired it starts to feel like you can’t go on and you NEED someone pushing you and telling you that you can. Hopefully she’ll listen to you and try and throw in some more motivational calls – if she does, acknowledge that. At the end of a piece or after practice, say thank you and that you really appreciated her trying to throw in some new calls. Tell her that it really helped and ask if she can keep doing that.

Another thing you could do is have the other girls in your boat write down one or two things they want to hear and then give that list to her so she can read it. It’s possible that she knows what to say but just gets overwhelmed or forgets, so perhaps seeing it right in front of her will help remind her of things to say. You could also find a recording or two that you like (check the “recordings” tag on here and you’ll find some sprinkled through various posts) and then send her a link to it. Say that you came across these and really like how the coxswain does this or that or whatever and could she maybe try something similar the next time you go out. If she’s a novice like you, she’s still learning how to do this whole “steer-cox-think about 90430943 things a minute” thing, so maybe having one of the varsity coxswains talk to her might help. Ask them if they’d mind giving her a couple pointers on things to say during races, specifically relating to motivational calls.

Asking coxswains to do something is a little like herding blind cats sometimes … it can be hard because coxswains are usually stubborn and typically don’t like being told what to do. Be nice when you talk to her. Don’t all come at her at once with pitchforks and accuse her of not listening to you or of sucking as a coxswain. Talk about it one day after practice and see what happens.

Coxswain recordings, pt. 3

Coxing Recordings

Coxswain recordings, pt. 3

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Australian Men’s 8+ at the European Training Center

Not too much in this video since it’s only about a minute long but I wanted to point out how he gives them something to focus on (“length and power through the water”) even though they’re at the tail end of practice and taking it back to the dock. It’s really easy to assume practice is over when your coach says to bring it in but it’s not so you should be taking advantage of whatever time you have left to get in as many good strokes as possible so you can end practice on a high note. This is particularly important if the rest of practice was mediocre or didn’t go well.

Other calls I liked:

“With hips, this one…”

“Lets set ourselves up for the row home…”

“One continuous focus to the end…”

Texas Rowing Center Rowing Starts

One thing she says that I remind my crews of a lot is that you have to row well even when you’re tired, otherwise your chance of getting injured or tweaking a muscle goes way up. Another thing she does that I do too is the “BOOM” at the start of a shift. When racing, I would do it on the first stroke of our settle after our high strokes at the start. The aggressiveness in your voice helps to reiterate the fact that the “settle” doesn’t mean there should be a drop in power.

I like the authoritativeness in the commands during the tens but outside of those strokes she sounds bored (or annoyed), like this is what she’s been doing all day and she’s over it. That’s something you have to pay attention to because whatever energy you’re projecting through your tone will get picked up by the rest of the boat and that can either make a good practice better or a mediocre practice worse. You can keep your tone chill and conversational but it should never get to the point where it sounds like you’re just going through the motions.

You can find and listen to more audio by checking out the “Coxswain Recordings” page.

How to cox a boat in and out of the boathouse

Coxing How To Novice

How to cox a boat in and out of the boathouse

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Walking the boat in and out of the house is something you’ll do every single day so it’s important that you understand the process, calls, and terminology that go along with it. Each team will have their own subtle variances but this should give you a general idea of what to say and do. If you’re a more experienced coxswain then how get your boat in and out will probably be a lot less regimented than what I’ve laid out below and that’s totally fine. This post is written with novice coxswains in mind though which is why the minutiae of the process is laid out a bit more systematically.

Remember that everything you say should be said assertively. You also need to speak loudly so that your crew can hear you – don’t assume that the echo or reverberation of your voice off the walls and boats will carry your voice. You can never be too loud, especially as a novice.

When giving instructions about where to go it’s important to know which way to tell the rowers to go too. “In the house” means to walk inside the boathouse/towards where the boats are stored and “out of the house” means to walk outside the boathouse/away from where the boats are stored. Vague directions such as “move that way” or “come towards me” aren’t helpful so avoid using ones like that and instead say things like “take two steps to your left” or “walk it towards bow”.

Coxing the boat out of the house

Before you begin, make sure there are four people on each end and each side of the boat. It is easiest to carry the boat if the rowers are bunched up at each end or spread out evenly throughout the length of the boat. Do not have the rowers all bunch up in the middle. This minimizes the support on the ends of the boat and makes it much heavier to carry.

Another thing to be aware of when the rowers line up is their height. You don’t want to have a tall person be on the direct opposite side of a short person because then it forces all the weight onto their shoulder. If you have a range of heights going from stroke to bow, you can have the rowers switch where they stand when they’re carrying the boat down so that it’s comfortable for everyone. (This also eliminates a lot of bitching and “get it on shoulders” from the taller rowers.)

If you’re in a boat that is fairly new to the sport or has varying levels of upper body strength, your best bet is to have two tall people on either end, that way each end will be able to push the boat up and over heads. If all the stronger people are on one end and the weaker are on the other, that spells disaster in the making. Long story short, know the individual strength of your rowers.

To get the boat out of the house, the italicized words are the calls you’ll make to tell your crew what to do.

“All eight, hands on.”

This is the call that lets people know you’re ready to go. When you get hands on everyone should be quiet so they can hear what you’re saying and then do it without wasting time. If people are talking or not paying attention, that’s when boats get damaged.

“Lift it up, slide it out.”

This is the command to get the boat off the racks. When you give the command to “lift it up”, make sure you’re watching the fin. Some people have very liberal ideas of what an inch is and will lift the boat too high, causing either the fin or the hull to hit the boat, riggers, or racks above them. This can do various sorts of damage to the boat (ranging from dents in the hull from the racks or riggers to knocking the fin loose) so make sure when you say an inch, your rowers know you only mean an inch.

Sliding it out is the second part of this command. Once the boat is lifted off the racks this is when the rowers side step it to the middle of the bay. I like to say “slide it out” instead of “walk it out” because it’s (apparently…) easy to confuse “walk it out” with walk it out of the house instead of just walking it to the middle of the bay. Keeping the calls separate just avoids confusion, boat damage, and/or injury.

“Shoulders, ready, UP.” or “split to shoulders, ready, split.”

This call is only necessary if you’re bringing the boat out of a rack that isn’t already at shoulder height. If  you’re bringing the boat up from rollers that are on the ground you’ll need to say “waists, ready, up” first before giving the command to go to shoulders. Don’t go from the boat being on the ground straight to shoulders. If you’re coming down to shoulders from over heads, you’ll want to give the call to “show sides”. This tells the rowers to indicate which side they’re splitting to by leaning their head in the direction they’re going to move. Ideally they should be splitting to the side opposite their rigger.

“Watch the riggers, walk it out.”

Once you’re at shoulders, tell the rowers to watch the rigger in front of them to make sure it’s not going to hit anything and then walk it out. When walking it out, you should always be standing at the BACK of the boat. You should be able to see the entire length of the boat in front of you, regardless of whether you’re standing at the stern or the bow. The “back” of the boat will be dependent on how you store it.

The reason you should be at the back is so you can see if your boat is going to hit anything, which includes but isn’t limited to riggers on other boats, bay doors, random people standing around, etc. By following the boat you can pull it to the side if you need to in order to avoid clipping a rigger or something. Don’t count on your rowers to pay attention to whether or not the riggers are going to hit something (even though you’ve told them to “watch the riggers”) – you have to assume responsibility for your boat.

You also don’t want to stand beside the middle of the boat because if you have to make a turn coming out of the boathouse, you won’t be able to see what’s going on with the back end. If the crew swings too early, that end can hit the boats on the racks, a wall, etc. Additionally, your field of vision for what’s in front of you just decreased by about 50% because now you can’t see what obstructions might be in your way on the other side.

Coxing the boat in the house

For the most part, walking the boat in the house is the exact opposite of walking it out.

“Watch the riggers, walk it in.”

When the rowers are walking in, make sure they’re walking in in a straight line, not at an angle or anything. This is directed more towards crews who can’t walk directly into the boathouse from the dock. The back of the boat is going to follow the front, so if the front walks in at an angle the bow is going to follow, meaning that if/when the front swings around to straighten out, the bow of the boat won’t know what’s happening and will continue to try and walk forward. This typically results in the front of the boat getting pushed forward into another boat or into a wall. More experienced crews can get away with walking it in like that as long as they’re cautious but it’s not something novice or younger crews should do.

The easiest way to bring the boat in is to walk up parallel to the boathouse, weigh enough, and then side step the boat over so that it’s in a straight line in front of the bay. The key is to make sure everyone side steps it over together so the boat stays straight. Once you’re in front of where you want to be, you can walk it in.

“Weigh enough.”

Once your boat is in front of the racks you can tell the crew to weigh enough. A good way to know when/where to weigh enough is to put tape on your boat to mark the spots where it sits on the rack, that way whenever you walk in the house you always know exactly where to tell them to weigh enough. If you go in the house too far or not far enough, see where the tape is in relation to the racks and say “walk it in one step” or “walk it out three steps”. Always give the rowers specific directions so there’s nothing left open for interpretation. Don’t ever say “walk this way” because … which way is “this way”?

“Waist, ready, down.” or “up and over heads, ready, up.”

Be mindful of your position in the bay so that when you go over heads you don’t knock the riggers on other boats on the racks or the fin on any small boats you might have hanging from the ceiling.

“Side step it over, lift it up, and slide it in.”

Same as before, make sure when they lift the boat to get it on the racks, they’re not lifting it too high. Be aware of where the fin and hull are in relation to the boat above them. It’s important that everyone walks it over and puts the boat in together so that the rowers on one end aren’t already walking away from the boat while the other end is still trying to get it on the racks. Before you set it down double check that none of the riggers are sitting on the racks either because it can bend them or cause damage to the hull. If you’ve got tape on the hull to indicate where it should be on the racks, make sure it’s still lined up before everyone disperses.

The most important things to remember when bringing the boat in and out are:

Speak loudly, slowly, clearly, and concisely

Make sure your crew can hear you and clearly understand your instructions. They should never have to yell “what?!” or “we can’t hear you!”.

Pay attention to everything around you

Watch out for people standing in your path, boats that might be in slings in the boat bay, riggers on other boats, etc. It’s your responsibility to communicate to them that there’s a boat coming out/in and they’re in the way.

Don’t get frustrated

Coxing a boat on or off the racks can be nerve wracking, especially as a novice. Stay calm and be in control of the situation. Don’t let the rowers start telling other rowers what to do. Make sure everyone is quiet and listening to your instructions.

This whole process really is incredibly simple once you get the hang of it. Sometimes it requires being in a few different places at once but as you and your rowers become more experienced, both you and they will learn how to make it a smoother process and your instructions won’t need to be as nitpicky.

Image via // @rowingrelated
Coxswain recordings, pt. 2

College Coxing High School Racing Recordings

Coxswain recordings, pt. 2

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St. Ignatius (USA) vs. Shrewsbury (GBR) 2006 Henley Royal Regatta

Something I like that this coxswain does is tell them when they lost a seat and WHY. The subtle shock in his voice when he says “they’re challenging US?!” is great because that kind of tonal change in his voice gets the rowers thinking about it and ready to make a move to stop the challenge.

He also doesn’t lie at ANY point during this race – when they start moving, he lets his crew know that Shrewsbury is walking on them and it is not acceptable. Once he tells them to push the rate up they start making their move and he tells them every time they take a seat while continuing to ask for more on every stroke – “7 seats, gimme 8!”

Something I wouldn’t do that he did was count out the timing like he did at the start of the race – not just because it’s pretty amateur but also because at this rate, it’s not going to make much, if any, of a difference. There are way more effective ways of doing that than saying “2-3-4 cha”.

Other calls I liked:

“Let them burn their wheels…”

“Show them the thunder…”

“Load up on the catch, drive the legs, send it back…”

Bucknell Men’s Freshman 8+ vs. Holy Cross

At the start of the recording you’ll hear him say “My hand is up. I have my point. My hand is down.”, which is something you should get in the habit of doing as you’re getting your point before the start of each race.

When he calls the sneak attack at 3:07, there wasn’t really anything “sneaky” or subtle about it because he was yelling out the numbers like he was with every other ten they took. If you’re gonna take a move like that, it’s gotta be a pre-planned thing that you’ve discussed and practiced ahead of time so that all you have to do is say a phrase or a word and the crew knows that the next ten strokes is that move. Your tone and calls should remain normal and not give away that you’re taking a surprise move.

Other calls I liked:

“We do not sit…”

Radnor Lightweight 8+ Mid-Atlantic Regionals 2012

First thing I have to say about this video isn’t even about the coxing … it’s about the stroke. Seven strokes into the starting sequence and he’s already looking out of the boat and he does it throughout the entire race. This coxswain does a decent job of telling the crew where they are in relation to the other crews so there really shouldn’t be any reason for the stroke to be looking out of the boat like that.

One call he made that I liked goes back to the stroke looking out of the boat – he said “heads forward, I got your back”. When I see rowers looking out of the boat I automatically assume that there must be a some reason why they don’t trust their coxswain, otherwise why aren’t they listening to him when he tells them where they are? Establishing trust between yourself and your crew is critical in times like this. The only other thing I would have done is said the stroke’s name so that he gets that he’s talking to him.

He took several tens but there was one spot where I think a move could have helped them … he says “Morristown is fading” and then goes back into his regular calls. Don’t do that! If you can see a crew is fading, make a move and capitalize on it. Another thing that he said a lot was “top 3”, he wanted to be in the “top 3”. Instead of being saying that, I would have added an extra punch of motivation by saying “We’re sitting in 4th by five seats, let’s go for 3rd. In two we take a ten to even up the bowballs, ready to go, on this one.” I think specifics like that are important when you’re sitting just off the podium.

Something he does a lot that I would really caution you to avoid doing is saying “I want…” or “get me…”. Separating yourself from the crew like that just makes it seem like you’re a slave driver or something who’s just there to tell them what to do. You have just as much responsibility for getting your bow ball ahead as they do so whatever calls you make should be “let’s do X” or ” we want Y”. Calls like “I want a medal” are bullshit because you’re making it all about you and that’s not the case.

One quick note about the rowing – if you watch the stroke, you can see him losing his neck and hunching his shoulders at the catch and on the first part of the drive. If you see that, make sure you point it out and remind them to stay horizontal, engage the lats, unweight the hands, etc. so they’re not wasting energy by engaging the wrong muscles.

Other calls I liked:

“We’re clicking on all cylinders…”

You can find and listen to more recordings by checking out the “Coxswain Recordings” page.

Coxing Q&A

Question of the Day

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I was wondering what the difference is between checking it and holding water. I think checking it is just once side and everybody holds water? But I’m not sure. and then also what do you think is the easiest way to turn around? I usually have my stern or bow four row with ports backing. Is that pretty standard would you say? Thank you again so so so so so much.

For the most part there is no difference between checking it and holding water as they both mean pretty much the same thing. You can tell all eight to check it down or just the ports or whoever … it all means to slow the boat’s speed and bring the boat to a stop. Some coxswains use the terms interchangeably, some use them for different purposes. I typically say “check it down” when I want to stop the boat and/or spin around. When we’re sitting stationary and the current is moving us, I’ll have everyone “hold water” to try and keep us in place. When the rowers are checking, they square their blades about 3/4 of the way while they’re in the water. When they’re holding, everyone squares their blades all the way and lets them just rest in the water.

It’s up to you to decide which one you want to use/how you want to use it, but once you choose, make sure you stay consistent. Don’t say “ports check it down” for two weeks and then decide one day to switch it up. It confuses the rowers. They’re fragile creatures and can’t handle that kind of shock.

The easiest, most textbook way to turn around is starboards row, ports back. If you can’t have all eight rowing at the same time, have four people row and four people set the boat. The quickest way to spin with four people (in a port stroked boat) is to have bow and 3 row, 6 and stroke back. In a starboard stroked boat, have 2 and 4 row, and 5 and 7 back. That way you’ve got people in both the front AND the back of the boat doing work.